U.S. patent application number 11/190036 was filed with the patent office on 2005-11-17 for methods and apparatus for processing network data transmissions.
This patent application is currently assigned to iBAHN General Holdings Corporation a Delaware corporation. Invention is credited to Smith, Wallace Eric, West, William B..
Application Number | 20050254495 11/190036 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 26889923 |
Filed Date | 2005-11-17 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050254495 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
West, William B. ; et
al. |
November 17, 2005 |
Methods and apparatus for processing network data transmissions
Abstract
Methods and apparatus are described for providing access to a
network via a first one of a plurality of network access nodes in
the network. The network access nodes each have a network address
associated therewith which is unique on the network, the first
network access node having a first network address associated
therewith. The first network address is associated with a first
computer while the first computer is connected to the first network
access node thereby providing access to the network. Transmissions
associated with the first computer are monitored to determine
address information. The transmissions are then processed in
response to the address information.
Inventors: |
West, William B.; (Salt Lake
City, UT) ; Smith, Wallace Eric; (Lindon,
UT) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BEYER WEAVER & THOMAS LLP
P.O. BOX 70250
OAKLAND
CA
94612-0250
US
|
Assignee: |
iBAHN General Holdings Corporation
a Delaware corporation
|
Family ID: |
26889923 |
Appl. No.: |
11/190036 |
Filed: |
July 25, 2005 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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11190036 |
Jul 25, 2005 |
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09823088 |
Mar 29, 2001 |
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6934754 |
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60194354 |
Apr 3, 2000 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
370/389 ;
370/252 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 67/20 20130101;
H04L 29/12009 20130101; H04W 8/26 20130101; H04L 61/2015 20130101;
H04L 61/2061 20130101; H04W 80/04 20130101; H04L 29/12283 20130101;
H04L 67/02 20130101; H04L 61/00 20130101; H04L 29/12311 20130101;
H04L 61/2084 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
370/389 ;
370/252 |
International
Class: |
H04L 012/26 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for providing access to a network via a first one of a
plurality of network access nodes in the network, the network
access nodes each having a network address associated therewith
which is unique on the network, the first network access node
having a first network address associated therewith, the method
comprising: associating the first network address with a first
computer while the first computer is connected to the first network
access node thereby providing access to the network; monitoring
transmissions associated with the first computer to determine
address information; and processing the transmissions in response
to the address information.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first computer has an internal
IP address and associating the first network address with the first
computer comprises translating the internal IP address of the first
computer to the first network address.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first computer does not have
an internal IP address and associating the first network address
with the first computer comprises assigning the first network
address to the first computer.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the network comprises a local area
network and the associating is done by a headend associated with
the local area network.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the network comprises a wide area
network and the associating is done by a remote server which
controls the wide area network.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the associating is done by the
first network access node.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein portions of the network comprise a
single pair of conductors, the method further comprising
transmitting half duplex data and standard telephone signals
substantially simultaneously over the single pair of
conductors.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein transmitting the half duplex data
comprises transmitting the half duplex data at a first frequency
which is significantly higher than a second frequency at which the
standard telephone signals are transmitted.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring and processing the
transmissions is done by the first network access node.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring the transmissions
comprises parsing an HTML string associated with the
transmissions.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring the transmissions
comprises monitoring network layer information associated with the
transmissions.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring the transmissions
comprises monitoring any of a plurality of network communication
protocol layers associated with the transmissions.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the transmissions
comprises associating an affiliate tag with the transmissions where
the transmissions correspond to an affiliate.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein associating the affiliate tag
comprises appending the affiliate tag to an HTML string associated
with the transmissions.
15. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the transmissions
comprises generating content for presentation on the first
computer.
16. The method of claim 15 wherein the transmissions relate to a
first entity, the content also relating to the first entity.
17. The method of claim 15 wherein the transmissions relate to a
first entity, the content relating to a second entity in
competition with the first entity.
18. The method of claim 15 further comprising presenting the
content on the first computer in a pop-up window.
19. The method of claim 15 further comprising presenting the
content on the first computer in a frame around at least one HTML
page corresponding to the transmissions.
20. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the transmissions
comprises redirecting the transmissions to a server to be
processed.
21. The method of claim 20 wherein processing the transmissions
comprises framing HTML pages to be presented on the first
computer.
22. The method of claim 20 wherein processing the transmission
comprises generating a pop-up window to be presented with HTML
pages on the first computer.
Description
RELATED APPLICATION DATA
[0001] The present application is a divisional application of U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 09/823,088 (Attorney Docket No.
STSNP003) which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent
Application No. 60/194,354 (Attorney Docket No. STSNP003P), the
entire disclosure of each of which is incorporated herein by
reference for all purposes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to network communications and,
more specifically, to methods for monitoring, tagging, and
redirecting traffic in network communication systems.
[0003] Any business traveler who relies on network communications
to maintain contact with clients and the home office appreciates
the availability of fast and reliable data ports at remote
locations such as airport lounges and hotel rooms. The hospitality
industry has only recently begun to understand the necessity of
providing such high speed data connections to business travelers.
In fact, given the explosive growth of network technologies and the
corresponding dependence of the business professional on such
technologies, hotels which do not move to provide high speed
connectivity in guest rooms comparable to the typical office
environment will likely lose a substantial portion of their
business to hotels which do.
[0004] Unfortunately, many hotel rooms are not currently wired to
accommodate high speed data traffic. That is, prior to 1990,
virtually all hotel rooms were wired to provide only basic
telephone service. As late as 1995, less than 10% of hotel rooms
were wired to handle standard Ethernet data speeds. Even today,
while the major players in the hospitality industry are searching
for high speed connectivity solutions, the vast majority of hotel
guest and conference rooms are still wired with low quality, single
pair connections. One obvious solution would be to completely
rewire all of the guest and conference rooms in each hotel facility
to provide the desired data transmission capabilities. However,
given the prohibitive cost of such an undertaking, a less costly
solution would be desirable.
[0005] Even if such a costly rewiring were undertaken, there are
other problems which are not addressed by an infrastructure
upgrade. For example, even if a high speed connection to the
hotel's host is provided, it will often be the case that a guest's
laptop computer would be incompatible with the hotel network in
some way. Thus, each guest's laptop must be configured
appropriately in order to communicate with the network and with the
Internet beyond. This would likely involve loading special software
onto a guest's laptop each time the guest wants to go online. Not
only would such a process be cumbersome and annoying to the hotel
guest, it may also be unacceptable from the guest's point of view
in that reconfiguring the laptop may interfere with the current
configuration in undesirable ways.
[0006] Neither does a costly wiring upgrade address the
administrative and security issues related to providing Internet
access via a hotel host. That is, high speed Internet access for
hotel guests requires a network at the hotel property and some sort
of connection between the hotel network and the Internet, e.g., a
T1 or T3 line. A firewall at each hotel property would also be
required to protect the internal network from unauthorized access.
The existence of the firewall at each property, in turn, requires
that most of the control and administration of the local network be
performed at the hotel property rather than remotely, thus
representing an undesirable redundancy of administrative
functions.
[0007] Another administrative difficulty related to maintaining
each hotel property as a separate Internet host involves the
management of IP addresses. Ranges of globally unique 32-bit IP
addresses are issued to organizations by a central Internet
authority. These addresses are organized in a four octet format.
Class A IP addresses are issued to very large organizations and
employ the first of the four octets to identify the organization's
network and the other three to identify individual hosts on that
network. Thus, a class A address pool contains nearly 17 million
(224) globally unique IP addresses. With class B addresses, the
first two octets are used to identify the network and the last two
to identify the individual hosts resulting in 64,000 (216) globally
unique IP addresses for each organization. Finally, with class C
addresses, the first three octets are used to identify the network
and the last octet to identify the individual hosts resulting in
only 256 (28) globally unique IP addresses for each
organization.
[0008] Unfortunately for many medium to large size organizations
(1,000 to 10,000 hosts), it has become very difficult, if not
impossible, to obtain anything other than a class C address for
their networks due to the fact that the class A and B address
spaces have been almost entirely locked up. This problem has been
addressed to some extent by the use of a Network Address
Translation (NAT) protocol. According to such a protocol, when a
local host on an organization's network requests access to the
Internet, it is assigned a temporary IP address from the pool of
globally unique IP addresses available to the organization. The
local host is identified by the globally unique address only when
sending or receiving packets on the Internet. As soon as the local
host disconnects from the Internet, the address is returned to the
pool for use by any of the other hosts on the network. For
additional details on the implementation of such a protocol please
refer to K. Evegang and P. Francis, The IP Network Address
Translator (NAT), Request for Comments "RFC" 1631, Cray
Communications, NTT, May 1994, the entirety of which is
incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
[0009] Such dynamic assignment of IP addresses might be sufficient
for certain organizations as long as the number of simultaneous
users which require access to the Internet remains below the
maximum of 256. However, if, for example, a 1200 room hotel were
hosting an Internet technologies seminar it would be extremely
likely that the demand for Internet access would exceed the
available address pool. All of this also assumes that a major hotel
chain would be able to obtain a complete class C pool of addresses
for each of its properties; not necessarily a reasonable
assumption.
[0010] It is therefore desirable to provide methods and apparatus
by which each of the properties in a major hotel chain may provide
high speed Internet access to each of its guest rooms in a secure,
inexpensive, and reliable manner without undue administrative
burdens on the individual properties.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] According to the present invention, methods and apparatus
are provided which make use of existing hotel wiring
infrastructures to provide secure, high speed data and Internet
access to each of the guest rooms in a hotel property. According to
one embodiment of the invention, each guest room in the hotel is
interconnected via the hotel's current wiring infrastructure into a
local network. When a guest wishes to access the Internet, he
connects his laptop to an in-room module installed in each guest
room which temporarily assigns a "fake" local IP address to the
guest's laptop. The "fake" local IP address is associated with the
in-room module and is unique on the hotel's local network. The
address is "fake" in that it is not a valid Internet address and in
that it replaces the laptop's own real IP address. The assigned
local IP address uniquely identifies the guest's laptop on the
hotel network while that laptop remains connected to the in-room
module.
[0012] A headend module in the hotel handles packet routing and
provides access to the Internet. In facilitating access to the
Internet, the headend module temporarily assigns globally unique IP
addresses from a pool of, for example, class C addresses to in-room
modules in individual guest rooms in response to requests for
Internet access from those rooms. An assigned IP address remains
dedicated to a particular in-room module (and thus the associated
guest's computer) for the duration of the Internet transaction.
Upon termination of the transaction, the globally unique IP address
is disassociated from the in-room module and put back into the pool
for use in facilitating a later Internet transaction from any of
the hotel's rooms.
[0013] According to another embodiment of the invention, the local
networks of a number of hotels are interconnected via a remote
server thereby forming a private wide area network, or a virtual
private network. The operation of the virtual private network to
provide high speed data and Internet access to individual guest
rooms is similar to the process described above except that the
"fake" IP address of the in-room modules are unique over the entire
virtual private network, and the temporary assignment of globally
unique IP addresses is performed by the remote server rather than
the hotel headend. This is advantageous in that it is contemplated
that the remote server has a larger pool of such addresses
associated therewith than an individual hotel network might be able
to procure (e.g., a class B address pool).
[0014] Thus, because the IP address needs of all of the hotels in
the virtual private network are spread out over the entire
installed base of the remote server, bursts of need at any one
property which exceed the capacity of a single class C address pool
may be accommodated. The virtual private network embodiment of the
present invention also has the advantage that firewall security and
other network administrative functions may be centralized and
performed remotely without compromising the security of any
individual hotel network.
[0015] According to various additional embodiments, the processing
power of the in-room module of the present invention is employed to
monitor the data being transmitted to and is from the connected
computer, and to provide a variety of functions based on the nature
of the transmissions being monitored. For example, the in-room
module may determine the destination of data transmissions from the
computer by parsing and HTML string or looking at the TCP
connection. Then, depending on the destination, the in-room module
can perform various functions such as tagging the transmissions,
framing pages sent to the computer in response to the transmission,
or redirecting the transmissions for processing at some other
location, e.g., an associated server.
[0016] Thus, according to the present invention, methods and
apparatus are provided for providing access to a network via a
first one of a plurality of network access nodes in the network.
The network access nodes each have a network address associated
therewith which is unique on the network, the first network access
node having a first network address associated therewith. The first
network address is associated with a first computer while the first
computer is connected to the first network access node thereby
providing access to the network. Transmissions associated with the
first computer are monitored to determine address information. The
transmissions are then processed in response to the address
information.
[0017] A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the
present invention may be realized by reference to the remaining
portions of the specification and the drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0018] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the provision of high
speed data and Internet access to guest rooms in a hotel according
to a specific embodiment of the invention;
[0019] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing
high speed data and Internet access to guest rooms in a hotel
according to a specific embodiment of the invention;
[0020] FIGS. 3a and 3b are more detailed block diagrams of the
in-room module and head-end module of FIG. 1;
[0021] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the combination of
half duplex data and standard telephone data on a single pair of
conductors according to a specific embodiment of the invention;
[0022] FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the provision of high
speed data and Internet access to guest rooms in hotels according
to another specific embodiment of the invention;
[0023] FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the provision of high
speed data and Internet access to guest rooms in hotels according
to yet another specific embodiment of the invention; and
[0024] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating providing network access
and the selective processing of data transmissions according to a
specific embodiment of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS
[0025] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the provision of high
speed data and Internet access to guest rooms in a hotel network
100 according to a specific embodiment of the invention. In each
guest room 102 is an in-room module (IRM) 104 by which a telephone
106 and a guest's laptop computer 108 may be connected to the
hotel's wiring infrastructure. According to a specific embodiment,
IRM 104 is plugged directly into the room's phone jack and has at
least two additional ports, one for the room's telephone, e.g., an
RJ-11 jack, and one for the guest's laptop, e.g., an RJ-45 Ethernet
port. According to various embodiments, IRM 104 performs a number
of functions including, for example, combining and separating
Ethernet data and standard telephone signals for transmission over
the hotel's wiring infrastructure. According to other embodiments
and as discussed below, IRM 104 is configured to receive control
information from a central location for automated control of
various room environmental parameters, e.g., temperature and
lighting. According to still other embodiments, IRM 104 is
configured to receive a wide variety of other types of data such
as, for example, digital audio and video for presentation in the
guest room, or a wide variety of other information services.
[0026] Transmission line 110 connects IRM 104 to the hotel's
head-end 112 via any of a wide variety of infrastructures. In the
example shown, standard telephone transmission line 110 connects
IRM 104 to head-end 112. It will be understood, however, that the
wiring between IRM 104 and head-end 112 may take other forms such
as, for example, a four-conductor Ethernet transmission line.
Head-end 112 comprises a main distribution frame (MDF) punch down
block 116, a public branch exchange (PBX) punch down block 118, and
a public branch exchange (PBX) 120. Interposed between punch down
blocks 116 and 118 is an HEM punch down block 122. Standard
telephone signals pass through punch down block 122 to PBX 120
while half duplex Ethernet data packets are transmitted and
received by head-end module (HEM) 124. This splitting of the
telephone signals and data packets may be effected by any of a
variety of filtering techniques as represented by filters 119 and
121. As will be understood, these filters may be incorporated into
punch down block 122 or be separate devices. Additional filtering
may also be provided to further mitigate undesirable effects from
having voice and data on the same lines. Such filtering is also
represented by filters 119 and 121. It will be understood that the
configuration shown is merely for illustrative purposes and is not
intended to limit the scope of the invention.
[0027] Depending on the configuration of the present invention, HEM
124 performs a variety of functions and, according to some
embodiments, can be thought of as an enhanced router with
additional capabilities programmed into its operating system. That
is, according to such embodiments, HEM 124 serves as a switch which
routes data packets to and from IRMs 104, and serves as the other
end of the communications to and from IRMs 104 in which Ethernet
data and phone signals are combined over single twisted pair
technology. According to other alternative embodiments, HEM 124
handles address translation and assignment, controls network
access, and serves as a bridge for Ethernet data transmitted over
the hotel's single twisted pair infrastructure. HEM 124 has a
plurality of ports 126 each of which communicates with a
corresponding IRM 104. This communication may be individually
monitored and controlled (by either the IRM or the HEM) thus
allowing central hotel management of billing and access as well as
the ability to generate reports for troubleshooting purposes.
[0028] Each IRM 104 (and thus the corresponding HEM port 126) has a
fixed IP address which may be configured using any of a variety of
network management protocols such as, for example, the Simple
Network Management Protocol (SNMP). If the guest's computer
connected to a particular IRM 104 does not have its own internal IP
address, the fixed IP address of the corresponding IRM 104/HEM port
126 is assigned to the guest's computer using the Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to facilitate access to network 100.
If the guest's computer already has its own internal IP address,
address translation is performed between the computer's internal IP
address and the fixed IP address of the IRM 104/HEM port 126.
According to various embodiment of the invention, this address
translation may be performed by either IRM 104 or HEM 124. HEM 124
has a small boot ROM (not shown) for basic IP communications and a
large flash ROM (not shown) for fully functional software and
configuration data. This allows for remote software upgrades using,
for example, an encrypted protocol riding on top of IP.
[0029] FIG. 2 is a flowchart 200 illustrating a method for
providing high speed data and Internet access to guest rooms in a
hotel using the system of FIG. 1. When a guest's computer connects
to an IRM in any one of the guest rooms, the network IP address
associated with that IRM is associated with the computer (204). As
discussed above, this association could mean a DHCP assignment of
the network IP address to the guest's computer where the computer
did not already have an internal IP address. It could also mean
that the internal IP address of the computer is translated into the
network IP address. This address assignment/translation may be
effected by either the IRM or the HEM. In addition, it will be
understood that depending on where the assignment/translation
occurs it may precede or follow 206 described below. The network IP
address is associated with the guest's computer while it remains
connected to the IRM.
[0030] Where the transmission line connecting the IRM to the hotel
network comprises a single twisted pair of conductors, the data
communications between the IRM and the HEM are configured so that
they may be transmitted substantially simultaneously over the
single twisted pair with the standard telephone signals from the
phone in the guest room (206). A specific technique by which this
configuration is effected is described below with reference to
FIGS. 3a and 4.
[0031] Once the connection is established, the communications
between the IRM and the HEM are monitored either periodically or
continuously for a variety of purposes (208). This information may
be used by the hotel for billing purposes or for troubleshooting
and improving the reliability of the hotel network.
[0032] If an Internet transaction is requested by the guest's
computer, a globally unique IP address from a pool of such
addresses is temporarily associated with the network IP address
currently associated with the guest's computer using, for example,
a network address translation protocol (210). As discussed above,
the pool of addresses could be, for example, class A, B, or C
addresses. As will be discussed below with reference to FIGS. 5 and
6, the temporary association of the globally unique IP address may
be done by the HEM in the hotel or, according to another
embodiment, by a remote server which interconnects one or more
hotel properties in a wide area network. When the Internet
transaction is complete (212), the globally unique IP address is
disassociated from the network IP address and put back in the pool
for use in facilitating subsequent Internet transactions from any
of the hotel's guest rooms (214). The network IP address remains
associated with the guest's computer until the session ends, e.g.,
the computer is disconnected from the IRM or powered down
(216).
[0033] FIGS. 3a and 3b are more detailed block diagrams of IRM 104
and HEM 124 of FIG. 1, respectively. IRM 104 comprises connection
circuitry for connecting the IRM to the room's standard telephone
jack as well as the room's telephone and the guest's computer.
[0034] According to various embodiments, the connection circuitry
may include RJ-11 ports 302 for connecting to the phone and 303 for
connecting to the wall jack, an Ethernet port 304, a universal
serial bus (USB) port 306 for connecting to the guest's computer,
and an additional data port 307 for receiving various types of
data. USB port 306 may, in some instances, prove more convenient
than Ethernet port 304 in that certain network reconfiguration
issues don't have to be dealt with. In addition, many business
travelers often don't travel with the Ethernet dongle which is
necessary for connecting their laptop's Ethernet port to a network
Ethernet port. Thus, IRM 104 is operable to translate the laptop's
transmissions to the Ethernet standard.
[0035] According to a specific embodiment, IRM 104 also includes
transmission circuitry 308 for transmitting and receiving data on a
single twisted pair of conductors of which the majority of hotel
wiring infrastructures are comprised. According to one embodiment,
a portion of transmission circuitry 308 is implemented according to
the home PNA (Phone-line Networking Alliance) standard which allows
half duplex data and phone signals on the same line as illustrated
by the diagram of FIG. 4. According to the home PNA standard, data
transmissions from IRM 104 to a port 126 of HEM 124 and
transmissions from the HEM to the IRM are alternated at a frequency
in the range of 4-9 MHz, e.g., 7.5 MHz. Because standard phone
signals exists at a relatively low frequency compared to the home
PNA modulation frequency, all of the signals may easily exist on a
single pair of wires.
[0036] According to a specific embodiment, transmission circuitry
308 is operable to associate the network IP address associated with
IRM 104 with the guest's computer. That is, the address translation
or assignment which allows the guest access to the local or wide
area network is performed by the transmission circuitry in the IRM.
According to a more specific embodiment, transmission circuitry 308
includes a processing unit 309 based on RISC microprocessor which
performs the address translation, the combining and separation of
signals for transmission to the headend, and the routing of the
received signals to the appropriate IRM port. According to a
specific embodiment, processing unit 309 comprises an Intel 80960VH
and the appropriate support circuitry.
[0037] According to another specific embodiment, IRM 104 also
includes control circuitry 310 for receiving control information
via the hotel's network for controlling one or more control systems
311 proximate to the IRM. Such control systems may include, for
example, the room's temperature control, lighting, and audio
systems. In one embodiment, the control circuitry includes
conversion circuitry 312 for converting the received control
information into the necessary control signals for actually
controlling the in-room control systems. The conversion circuitry
may include, for example, an RF transmission element 314 (e.g., an
antenna) for transmitting RF control signals to the various control
systems. According to an alternative embodiment, conversion
circuitry 312 includes an infrared transmission element (e.g., an
IR diode) for transmitting infrared control signals to various
control systems.
[0038] Transmission circuitry 308 (using processor 309)
discriminates between the various data it receives and directs it
to the appropriate port on IRM 104 according to address information
in data packet headers. According to a specific embodiment, digital
audio and video may be transmitted to individual rooms via the
system described herein. The digital audio and video are directed
to additional data port 307 to which an audio and/or video system
may be connected for presenting the transmitted content. In this
way, an ambience may be set for the guest's arrival. In addition,
the guest could select a wide variety of entertainment and
information services via the hotel network which may then be
transmitted to the guest's room via the auxiliary data port 307 on
IRM 104.
[0039] Specific embodiments of IRM 104 also include an LED or LCD
display 316 on which status and other information may be
communicated to the occupant of the guest room whether or not they
are currently connected. For example, before a connection is made,
display 316 could be used to inform the hotel guest of all of the
services available through IRM 104 as well as instructions for
connecting to IRM 104. Other information such as stock quotes and
weather information may also be presented continuously or
periodically. Once connected, display 316 could communicate the
status of the connection as well as the time connected and current
connection charges. It will be understood that a wide variety of
other information may be presented via display 316.
[0040] IRM 104 may also include an array of individual colored LEDs
318 which provide information to the user. Such LEDs may indicate,
for example, the connection status of the IRM, i.e., whether it is
connected to the HEM, using red or green LEDs. LEDs 318 may also be
configured to indicate a purchase status to the user. That is,
because connection services are often purchased in 24 hour blocks,
LEDs 318 may indicate to the user whether she is operating within a
block of time which has already been paid for (green), whether the
end of the current block is approaching (yellow), or whether she
has already entered the next time block (red). LEDs 318 could also
indicate which type of connection the user has established, e.g.,
USB or Ethernet.
[0041] As mentioned above and as shown in FIG. 3b, HEM 124 may be
thought of as an enhanced router which routes data packets to and
from IRMs 104, controls network access, serves as a bridge for
Ethernet data transmitted over the hotel's single twisted pair
infrastructure, and, according to some embodiments, handles address
translation and assignment. According to various embodiments, the
functionalities of HEM 124 may be implemented using functionalities
available in, for example, a 2611 router and a Catalyst 2900
Ethernet switch from Cisco Systems, Inc. HEM 124 includes a master
central processing unit (CPU) 352, low and medium speed interfaces
354, and high-speed interfaces 356. When acting under the control
of appropriate software or firmware, the CPU 352 is responsible for
such router tasks as routing table computations and network
management. It may also be responsible for controlling network
access and transmissions, etc. It preferably accomplishes all these
functions under the control of software including an operating
system (e.g., the Internet Operating System (IOS.RTM.) of Cisco
Systems, Inc.) and any appropriate applications software. CPU 352
may include one or more microprocessor chips 358. In a specific
embodiment, a memory 360 (such as non-volatile RAM and/or ROM) also
forms part of CPU 352. However, there are many different ways in
which memory could be coupled to the system.
[0042] The interfaces 354 and 356 are typically provided as
interface cards (sometimes referred to as "line cards"). Generally,
they control the sending and receipt of data packets over the
network and sometimes support other peripherals used with HEM 124.
The low and medium speed interfaces 354 include a multiport
communications interface 362, a serial communications interface
364, and a token ring interface 366. The high-speed interfaces 356
include an FDDI interface 368 and a multiport Ethernet interface
370. Preferably, each of these interfaces (low/medium and
high-speed) includes (1) ports for communication with the
appropriate media, (2) an independent processor, and in some
instances (3) volatile RAM. The independent processors control such
communications intensive tasks as packet switching, media control
and management. By providing separate processors for the
communications intensive tasks, this architecture permits the
master microprocessor 352 to efficiently perform routing
computations, network diagnostics, security functions, etc.
[0043] The low and medium speed interfaces 354 are coupled to the
master CPU 352 through a data, control, and address bus 372.
High-speed interfaces 356 are connected to the bus 372 through a
fast data, control, and address bus 374 which is in turn connected
to a bus controller 376.
[0044] Although the system shown in FIG. 3b is one type of router
by which the present invention may be implemented, it is by no
means the only router architecture by which the present invention
may be implemented. For example, an architecture having a single
processor that handles communications as well as routing
computations, etc. would also be acceptable. Further, other types
of interfaces and media could also be used with the router.
[0045] Regardless of network device's configuration, it may employ
one or more memories or memory modules (including memory 360)
configured to store program instructions for the network operations
and network access and control functions described herein. The
program instructions may specify an operating system and one or
more applications, for example.
[0046] Such memory or memories may also be configured to store, for
example, control information for controlling in-room control
systems, etc.
[0047] Because such information and program instructions may be
employed to implement the systems/methods described herein, the
present invention relates to machine readable media that include
program instructions, state information, etc. for performing
various operations described herein. Examples of machine-readable
media include, but are not limited to, magnetic media such as hard
disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as
CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical media such as floptical disks; and
hardware devices that are specially configured to store and perform
program instructions, such as read-only memory devices (ROM) and
random access memory (RAM). The invention may also be embodied in a
carrier wave travelling over an appropriate medium such as
airwaves, optical lines, electric lines, etc. Examples of program
instructions include both machine code, such as produced by a
compiler, and files containing higher level code that may be
executed by the computer using an interpreter.
[0048] Referring back to FIG. 3b, HEM 124 has a plurality of ports
126 each of which communicates with a corresponding IRM 104. HEM
124 has the ability to sense when any of ports 126 are being used
so that the hotel may bill the user accordingly. This monitoring
feature is also useful for technical support, network bandwidth
requirement estimates, billing estimates, and buying pattern data.
HEM 124 also has the capability of enabling and disabling
individual ports 126. Where network 100 is part of a wide area
network (as discussed below), the monitoring, enabling, and
disabling of ports 126 may be done from a remote server at the
center of the WAN. As described above, each HEM port 126 (and thus
the corresponding IRM 104) has a fixed IP address which may be
configured using any of a variety of network management protocols
such as, for example, SNMP. The fixed IP address of the HEM port
126 and the IRM 104 is assigned to the guest's computer using DHCP.
Alternatively, an address translation is performed between the
computer's internal IP address and the fixed IP address of IRM
104/HEM port 126. HEM 124 has a small boot ROM 378 for basic IP
communications and a large flash ROM 380 for fully functional
software and configuration data. This allows for remote software
upgrades using, for example, an encrypted protocol riding on top of
IP.
[0049] According to various embodiments, HEM 124 also comprises
transmission circuitry 316 for transmitting and receiving data on a
single twisted pair of conductors. Thus, the Ethernet data which
has been combined with the standard telephone signals at IRM 104
may be picked off and reconfigured for transmission according to
standard Ethernet techniques.
[0050] Also, data headed to IRM 104 may be combined for
transmission over the single twisted pair. As with transmission
circuitry 308, transmission circuitry 316 may be implemented
according to the home PNA standard.
[0051] FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the provision of high
speed data and Internet access to guest rooms in a chain of hotels
502 according to one embodiment of the invention.
[0052] Using the internal infrastructure described above with
reference to FIG. 1, each hotel 502 has a local area network (LAN)
(not shown) which provides direct access to the Internet 504 for
each of its guest rooms. According to this embodiment, each hotel
502 must provide its own security in the form of a firewall 506 for
the protection of its LAN.
[0053] FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the provision of high
speed data and Internet access to guest rooms in a chain of hotels
602 according to another embodiment of the invention. Using the
internal infrastructure described above with reference to FIG. 1,
each hotel 602 has a LAN (not shown) which is then connected with
other LANs in the other hotels 602 to form a wide area network
(WAN) referred to herein as a virtual private network (VPN) 604.
According to a specific embodiment, VPN 604 is built on an optical
fiber backbone employing asynchronous transfer mode (ATM)
technology to transmit data packets. It will be understood however
that any of a variety of transmission protocols and infrastructures
may be employed to transmit data in such a network without
departing from the scope of the present invention. Such protocols
may include but are not limited to frame relay, Ethernet, and FDDI.
Data are configured in the appropriate format as they leave each
hotel 602 by a framer (not shown) which may be part of or
associated with each hotel's router or file server.
[0054] The embodiment of FIG. 6 provides several advantages over
the embodiment described above with reference to FIG. 5. High speed
access to the Internet requires some form of connection to the
Internet such as, for example, a T1 or T3 line. Not only does such
a connection require a hardware infrastructure to support it, it
also necessitates some form of protection for the network in the
form of, for example, a firewall. Thus, if each hotel property in a
hotel chain were to be directly connected to the Internet (as shown
in FIG. 5), each property would need to have its own network
hardware infrastructure, firewall, and the technical and
administrative staff and functions to support the same. By
contrast, with VPN 604, access to the Internet 606 is provided via
a single network center (represented by remote network operation
center (NOC) server 608) at which one or more firewalls 610 and any
other necessary networking hardware and equipment may be located
and managed. According to a specific embodiment, a redundant
network center is provided in a different city than the first
against the event that one or the other goes down.
[0055] Having each hotel property directly connected to the
Internet is problematic for effecting control of the hotels from a
central location. That is, the more each hotel LAN is amenable to
control from a central location, the more vulnerable it is to
hacking. With VPN 604, security is complete and centralized control
is virtually unlimited. This makes things like remote software
upgrades convenient thus eliminating what might otherwise be
significant field service costs. In addition, because much of the
equipment is centrally located, the costly redundancy of equipment
and support functions at each hotel property made necessary by the
embodiment of FIG. 5 is avoided.
[0056] Another important benefit of VPN 604 relates to the
management of globally unique IP addresses. As mentioned above,
there is a paucity of pools of globally unique IP addresses which
are sufficiently large to accommodate each host on the networks of
most medium to large size organizations. For example, one pool of
class C addresses accommodates less than 256 simultaneous users on
a network. This might be sufficient at most hotels much of the
time, but it is clear that there are foreseeable circumstances
where it would not be. For example, as mentioned above, if a 1200
room hotel hosted an Internet technologies seminar it is highly
likely that such a pool of addresses would not be sufficient.
[0057] In addition, this scenario makes the assumption that each
property in a hotel chain (some comprising over 1000 properties)
could procure a pool of class C addresses.
[0058] VPN 604 addresses this problem in that it spreads the IP
address needs of each of the hotel properties over the resources of
the entire wide area network. Thus, for example, a single class B
pool of addresses might be used to accommodate all of the Internet
access needs of an entire hotel chain even where the total number
of rooms in the chain far exceeds the number of available globally
unique IP addresses. That is, large bursts of IP address needs may
occur simultaneously at dozens of the hotel properties without
exhausting the nearly 64,000 globally unique addresses available in
the class B pool.
[0059] Other secure services may also be provided via VPN 604. For
example, video teleconferencing-over-IP 612 and voice-over-IP
communications 614 may be provided to hotel guests. Moreover, by
arranging access to VPN 604 by corporate hosts 616, individual
employees of those corporations can have secure access to their
employer's network from remote locations. Other services such as,
for example, property management services 618 may be provided to
the management of hotels 602.
[0060] According to a specific embodiment, the processing power of
the in-room module of the present invention, e.g., IRM 104 of FIG.
3a, is employed to effect a variety of advanced IP and HTML
processing functions. According to various embodiments, such
functions may relate to the monitoring, tagging, and redirection of
network traffic. One such function relates to the manner in which
web sites and portals track the source of traffic referred to their
sites.
[0061] Many e-commerce web sites offer a share of their revenues to
sites which refer user traffic. These referrals are typically
accomplished through links to the e-commerce sites embedded in the
pages of the referring site. Traffic referred by such mechanisms
typically includes an affiliate tag identifying the referring site.
It is through the use of affiliate tags that the target e-commerce
sites track the source of referred traffic and determine the
compensation owed the various referring affiliate sites.
[0062] One shortcoming of the above-described approach relates to
the fact that the revenue opportunity may be lost by the referring
site if the user employs some other mechanism than the provided
link to access the target site. For example, if the user simply
types the target site URL directly into his browser, the request is
not tagged as originating from the affiliate site, even where the
linking page of the affiliate site is currently being viewed by the
user. Therefore, according to a specific embodiment of the
invention, the IRM is configured to monitor requests originating
from the associated computer and add affilitate link ID tags to
appropriate requests whether they originated from selection of a
hyperlink or direct typing of the URL.
[0063] More generally, the IRM of the present invention may be
configured to monitor the traffic originating from the connected
host and process the request in accordance with a predetermined
protocol depending on the nature of the traffic being monitored.
That is, because of the processing power in the IRM and the fact
that only one computer is typically associated with each IRM, the
traffic associated with the computer can be analyzed in very
detailed ways, far more detailed in fact than is practicable for
the traffic flowing through a typical network node, e.g., a router,
which may correspond to hundreds or even thousands of user.
[0064] FIG. 7 is a flowchart 700 illustrating another method for
providing high speed data and Internet access to guest rooms in a
hotel using the system of FIG. 1. When a guest's computer connects
to an IRM in any one of the guest rooms, the network IP address
associated with that IRM is associated with the computer (704). As
discussed above, this association could mean a DHCP assignment of
the network IP address to the guest's computer where the computer
did not already have an internal IP address. It could also mean
that the internal IP address of the computer is translated into the
network IP address. This address assignment/translation may be
effected by either of the IRM and the HEM. In addition, it will be
understood that depending on where the assignment/translation
occurs it may precede or follow 706 described below. The network IP
address is associated with the guest's computer while it remains
connected to the IRM.
[0065] The data from the guest's computer are then configured for
transmission over the hotel wiring infrastructure (706). So, for
example, where the transmission line connecting the IRM to the
hotel network comprises a single twisted pair of conductors, e.g.,
a standard phone line, the data communications between the IRM and
the HEM are configured so that they may be transmitted
substantially simultaneously over the single twisted pair with the
standard telephone signals from the phone in the guest room. This
may be accomplished, for example, using standard well know DSL
techniques. Alternatively, where the hotel is more up-to-date and
includes a network communications infrastructure, the data may be
transmitted according to any of a wide variety of network
transmission protocols, e.g., Ethernet.
[0066] Once the connection is established, the communications
between the IRM and the HEM are monitored either periodically or
continuously for a variety of purposes (708). This information may
be used by the hotel for billing purposes or for troubleshooting
and improving the reliability of the hotel network.
[0067] If an Internet transaction is requested by the guest's
computer, a globally unique IP address from a pool of such
addresses is temporarily associated with the network IP address
currently associated with the guest's computer using, for example,
a network address translation protocol (710). As discussed above,
the pool of addresses could be, for example, class A, B, or C
addresses. As will be discussed above with reference to FIGS. 5 and
6, the temporary association of the globally unique IP address may
be done by the HEM in the hotel or, according to another
embodiment, by a remote server which interconnects one or more
hotel properties in a wide area network.
[0068] The data transmissions to and from each computer connected
to each IRM may be monitored to effect a variety of functions
(712). That is, because of the processing power available at the
IRM, these data transmissions may be evaluated on any network
protocol level, e.g., right down to an HTML string, to determine,
for example, the destination to which the transmissions are
directed or from which the transmissions originated. This
information may then be used to process the transmissions in a wide
variety of ways ranging from very simple to highly sophisticated
(714).
[0069] Because of the processing power available in the IRM, the
monitoring of the transmissions from the guest's computer may be
accomplished with varying levels of sophistication. That is,
information about these transmissions may be determined by
evaluating the transmissions on any network communication protocol
layer, i.e., from the physical to the application layer. So, for
example, the IRM could identify the port to which a transmission is
directed, e.g., port 80, by referring to the network layer.
Alternatively, the IRM could identify the web site to which a
transmission is directed by looking at the HTML string in a
request. As will be understood, the possible ways in which the
transmission may be monitored are limited only by the number of
types of transmissions which could originate from or be directed to
the guest's computer.
[0070] The way in which the transmissions may then be processed are
similarly diverse. For example, if the transmissions are monitored
to determine the destination of a web request, this information may
be used in a variety of ways. Again for example, where an affiliate
agreement exists between the destination site and the provider of
the network services of the present invention, an affiliate tag may
be associated with the transmissions to the destination site. This
may be accomplished by appending the affiliate tag to the HTML
string designating the destination site.
[0071] Alternatively, the information about the destination site
could be employed to effect the generation of pop-up windows or the
framing of web pages on the guest's computer with content relating
in some way to the destination site. The content of such a frame or
window might relate to the business of the destination site or that
of a competitor. That is, if the computer user sends a request to
the Coca-Cola.RTM. web site, the returned web pages could be
displayed with a promotional offer from Coca-Cola.RTM. or an
advertisement from Pepsi.RTM..
[0072] The processing of the data transmission, whether it relates
to tagging, framing, or some other type of processing may occur in
the IRM itself, or may alternatively be accomplished at another
network node (e.g., the HEM, or a local or remote server) by having
the IRM redirect at least a portion of the transmissions through
the processing node. So, for example, if the processing function
relates to framing of web pages from specific destination sites,
where transmissions from the guest computer are determined to be
going to such a site, they may be redirected to the processing node
which connects with the destination site and frames the pages it
receives in response for presentation on the guest computer.
[0073] In general, it will be understood that the above-described
examples of the monitoring and processing of transmissions to and
from the guest computer are merely exemplary and that the present
invention encompasses a great diversity of both functions.
[0074] Referring back to FIG. 7, when the Internet transaction is
complete (or when a timeout period expires during which no packets
are sent or received) (716), the globally unique IP address is
disassociated from the network IP address and put back in the pool
for use in facilitating subsequent Internet transactions from any
of the hotel's guest rooms (718). The network IP address remains
associated with the guest's computer until the session ends, e.g.,
the computer is disconnected from the IRM or powered down
(720).
[0075] While the invention has been particularly shown and
described with reference to specific embodiments thereof, it will
be understood by those skilled in the art that changes in the form
and details of the disclosed embodiments may be made without
departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. For example,
many of the embodiments described herein have been described with
reference to hotels. It will be understood, however, that the
techniques employed by the present invention may be applied to a
variety of structures and institutions such as, for example,
schools, office buildings, and the like. In addition, several
embodiment described herein employ single twisted pair wiring which
is the standard telephone wiring found in most buildings. However,
it will be understood that the techniques described herein may be
implemented on any of a wide variety of wiring infrastructures
including, for example, Ethernet and ATM systems. Therefore, the
scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the
appended claims.
* * * * *